Gloria Gutman

SFU honours Gloria Gutman

Laurel Weldon, dean of Simon Fraser University’s faculty of arts and social sciences, and Dr. Gloria Gutman at the April 22 reception celebrating the naming of the university’s Gerontology Research Centre in honour of Gutman’s service and lasting impact. The event was held at SFU Harbour Centre. (photo from SFU)

Simon Fraser University has honoured Dr. Gloria Gutman, a pioneer in the field of aging, by naming the Gerontology Research Centre, which she founded, after her. They have also bestowed upon her an honorary doctor of laws.

This is not the first recognition of Gutman’s work in her areas of research, which include, but are not limited to, seniors housing, health promotion, elder abuse, LGBTQ+ aging, age-friendly hospitals and communities, and advance care planning. She has been awarded the Order of British Columbia and a Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal, and been appointed to the Order of Canada, the country’s highest civilian honour.

“I really feel grateful for the opportunities that SFU gave me, and the honorary degree in particular – universities very seldom honour their own,” she told the Independent in a recent interview. “Usually, if you look at who are the recipients of honorary degrees, it’s people from elsewhere.”

Almost as a proof of point, Gutman received an honorary doctorate from the University of Western Ontario in 2010 for her work “as an international authority in the field of gerontology.”

Part of the appreciation for such awards is that they highlight her field, said Gutman. “That’s the important thing for me, that it puts the word gerontology, or aging, or the concepts that I’ve worked on, or areas that I’ve tried to work on, brings them forward, gives them visibility. So, the honours are really a way of continuing to promote the organizations, the academic units, that I work for.”

Laurel Weldon, the dean of SFU’s faculty of arts and social sciences, which includes the gerontology department, has known Gutman for a few years. “But,” Weldon told the JI, “I first heard her on the radio being interviewed about Martha Stewart’s cover for Sports Illustrated!”

In 2023, Stewart became the oldest model to be featured on the magazine’s cover. In her convocation address last month, Gutman expressed the goal of a future of “aging without ageism,” which “involves making assumptions about a person’s abilities, values or role in society based solely on age rather than their individual characteristics.”

While their research areas overlap, including on gender and age discrimination, Weldon said, “the real way I’ve got to know Gloria has been as dean of the faculty in which she is a very active retired faculty member, applying for grants, running conferences, giving me her input and background on the department of gerontology and the Gerontology Research Centre.”

By the time the JI reached Gutman for a 10 a.m. Zoom interview on June 18, she had already been a panelist in an international webinar on witchcraft (in the larger context of financial abuse of the elderly) and attended a webinar on the Canadian Longitudinal Study on Aging. It was a typical start to the day for Gutman, who was heading to a FIFA watch party in the afternoon.

“I’m essentially a curious person, and I attend a lot of different webinars, some where I know nothing about the topic, mainly because I want to learn,” she said.

In her convocation address, Gutman talked about “not being afraid to undertake work in an area or sub-area that is unfamiliar. In my case, it was being invited to lead a research project on seniors’ housing. When offered that job,” she recalled, “I blurted out, ‘But I don’t know anything about seniors’ housing.’ I was told, ‘You have 90 days to learn.’ I read everything I could lay my hands on and became a 90-day expert.”

After having been invited to the FIFA watch party, Gutman told the JI she used AI to learn all the fundamentals of soccer and how the World Cup worked – she became “a three-day expert,” she said.

In her knowledge on aging, however, Gutman is a decades-long expert, though she attributes her career choice to happenstance.

“It was serendipitous,” she said of becoming a gerontologist.

Gutman lived in Calgary for some of her childhood – though she was born in Seattle – and her late husband, Gary, was from the city. Because of these connections, she did part of her post-secondary schooling there, at the University of Alberta’s satellite campus (which became the University of Calgary in 1966).

Gutman, who had majored in English and psychology at the University of British Columbia, said she went to the U of A English department and was told, basically, “Why don’t you go home and have a baby?” (She and her husband would have three children.) Her experience with the psychology department went differently.

Faculty member Dr. A.E. David Schonfield, a pioneering figure in gerontology and the psychology of aging, suggested Gutman do a master’s in the field – and she did.

After about five years in Calgary, the Gutmans moved back to Vancouver. Her husband continued to build his practice as an accountant and Gutman started her PhD at UBC. “At that time, nobody was doing aging, so I had to do it in social and developmental psychology,” which then covered ages 0 to 14, she said.

After finishing her PhD in 1971, Gutman taught Psych 100 for 10 years at UBC. She developed the first psychology of aging course ever to be taught in the province. She was a part-time assistant professor when she asked her dean for a full-time position. He refused, describing the study of aging as a “flash-in-the-pan phenomena.”

“The next day, I called out to SFU, made an appointment with Jack Blaney, who, at the time, was the dean of continuing education, and I went to see him,” said Gutman. “I was called the coordinator of programs in aging, but my first job was to create a program to coordinate.”

photo - Dr. Gloria Gutman with Dr. Jack Blaney at the April 22 reception at SFU Harbour Centre. Blaney hired Gutman when he was dean of continuing studies at Simon Fraser University — Dr. Gloria Gutman with Dr. Jack Blaney at the April 22 reception at SFU Harbour Centre. Blaney hired Gutman when he was dean of continuing studies at Simon Fraser University. *(photo from SFU)*

While still at UBC, Gutman had written a proposal for the development of a research centre on aging in response to a call for proposals from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada. The competition was delayed, and there was a second call for proposals when she was at SFU, so she wrote one – the Gerontology Research Centre at SFU was established in 1982.

Gutman also wanted to create a gerontology department, and she did. It began as a post-baccalaureate diploma, grew to a master’s program, followed by the addition of a minor and a PhD.

“I would define myself as an academic entrepreneur,” Gutman told the JI. “The people that have developed research centres, or who have developed a teaching program, tend to have similar kinds of characteristics and part of it is curiosity. And the other is identifying a gap and leaping in.”

And yet another, she identified in her convocation address, is: “You can’t be a one-person show if what you develop is to be sustainable. If it takes a village to raise a child, it takes a team to develop successful academic and research units.”

Despite all her successes, Gutman had to retire after she turned 65, as mandatory retirement was a widespread policy in that era. She was director of the GRC and the department of gerontology until 2005.

“The way the Gerontology Research Centre is structured is that it has a director and it has research associates, so I stepped down as director, but could still be a research associate of the centre,” she explained. “And, having been a full professor in the department, could be a professor emeritus…. But I never used the term for the first 10 years after age 65, because people roll their eyes sometimes when they see it. They figure you’re passé.”

When Gutman wrote the proposals for the research centre, she identified three areas in which it would specialize.

“The first one was housing for the elderly, which is what I had started and where I became the expert at UBC,” she said. “The second one, I looked around the campus, [and asked] who’s doing what? And there was a professor in the criminology department who was interested in crime and victimization of the elderly … and the third one, there was a professor in sociology who was interested in changing demography and lifestyles.

“We started out with those three and, gradually, then I added health and aging when I realized I was a health promoter,” said Gutman. “And, subsequently, I got interested in technology, so we added a fifth theme to the research centre, which was gerontechnology.”

Currently, Gutman – who has held many high-profile roles in national and international associations – is the vice-president of the International Society for Gerontechnology, is on International Longevity Centre-Canada advisory committees and is a member of the Research Management Committee of the Canadian Frailty Network. She has a long list of monographs, articles and books.

“What I said in my convocation address,” she said, “is there are the people that retire and are happy to sit in their rocking chair; the people who unretire themselves and go back to work, but in something different; and then there’s the never-retires.”

She’s in that last category. “It’s still interesting,” she says of her work, “and these issues come up, new issues, every day.”

That said, she makes sure she leaves the house every day. Up at 6 a.m., she usually shuts off the computer by 3 p.m. and goes out to do her 6,000 steps. She watches TV in the evenings. Her six grandchildren, ranging in age from single digit to university-age, don’t live in the city, “so I don’t have access to grandkids here,” she said.

In the Jewish community, Gutman (née Chertkow) was on the original advisory committee to develop the L’Chaim Adult Day Centre. She noted that Leah Deslauriers, who heads the program, is an SFU gerontology grad.

Gutman’s father attended L’Chaim, which brought Gutman back onto the board. “And,” she said, “when my husband [was] in his last years, that was a lifeline for me, as I cared for him at home in his last six months. It was one of the few places that I felt it was safe to leave him…. It gave me respite.”

She also has been on the board of the Louis Brier Home and Hospital, consulted with JQT (Jewish Queer Trans) Vancouver and other organizations. Notably, B’nai B’rith was a family endeavour of sorts.

Weldon, the SFU dean, describes Gutman as “an impressive, energetic, brilliant person. She is great at identifying important research topics and themes and has incredible persistence.”

“I am so happy that SFU was able to recognize and elevate Gloria Gutman in this way,” said Weldon. “It is so well deserved and, in this day and age, it’s wonderful to see someone who has worked hard, been a conscientious contributor and mentor, and who has done so much for her students, colleagues, the university, discipline and community, be recognized.”

Seniors profoundly affected

Dr. Gloria Gutman thought interviewees would have refused to place themselves in situations where they might be targeted or victimized, like rallies or Jewish events, but that wasn’t the case. “People felt more comfortable and secure when they were actively part of the Jewish community,” she said. (internet photo)

There’s been lots in the media about Jewish students feeling intimidated, but we tend not to think about older people,” Dr. Gloria Gutman told the Jewish Independent about a recent study she conducted with Dr. Sharon Avidor on the experiences of older Canadians since the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas terror attack on Israel. “We really want to raise awareness of older people among service providers and the general community, and let them know that the impact is really on all of our community.”

Gutman, a lifelong Vancouverite, is vice-president of the International Society for Gerontology, director emerita of the Gerontology Research Centre at Simon Fraser University and professor emerita of SFU’s department of gerontology. Wondering how older members of the Canadian Jewish community were coping in the aftermath of Oct. 7, she reached out to the local Jewish community in summer 2024 for help in recruiting participants for the study she conducted with Avidor, a psychologist in the faculty of social and community sciences at Israel’s Ruppin Academic Centre. Their findings were published in the Canadian Journal on Aging last fall, with the title, “I No Longer Can Say ‘Never Again.’”

Avidor and Gutman interviewed 15 older adults, including Holocaust survivors and Russian immigrants to Canada, and 11 service providers. Respondents were not just deeply affected by the Oct. 7 attack and the ensuing Israel-Hamas war, but experienced the public discourse as anti-Israel and at times antisemitic, upending their sense of safety and belonging.

The study found that Holocaust survivors and their offspring, older Russian emigres to Vancouver and LGBTQ+ Jewish seniors were more impacted. Almost everyone interviewed felt a deep connection with Israel, and personally affected by Oct. 7. Many felt isolated from non-Jews in their communities and were shocked at the lack of support they encountered outside of the Jewish community, as well as by the extent of misinformation proliferating about Israel. Given their experiences of antisemitism and discrimination, many were frustrated by the notion that Jews were considered a part of the white majority.

Interviewees were apprehensive about publicly displaying their Jewish identity and felt deeply offended by the anti-Israel vitriol expressed in pro-Palestinian demonstrations. They felt a strong need to connect with others in the Jewish community, as connecting with like-minded people provided solace at a time when their social circle was shrinking to almost exclusively Jewish friends.

Prior to the study, Gutman thought interviewees would have refused to place themselves in situations where they might be targeted or victimized, like rallies or Jewish events, but that wasn’t the case. “People felt more comfortable and secure when they were actively part of the Jewish community, and some who had not previously been involved came out of the woodwork after Oct. 7, getting comfort from engaging in community-based events,” she said.

Many of the LGBTQ+ respondents were in a somewhat different situation, alienated from LGBTQ+ groups because of “belligerent, negative, and even hateful comments about Israel, sometimes personally aimed towards them because of their Jewish backgrounds,” notes the study, while also not feeling comfortable attending events with an unequivocal pro-Israel view. Thus, Avidor and Gutman write, many in the LGBTQ+ community “were given to experiences of loneliness and isolation.”

Holocaust survivors said they were retraumatized by Oct. 7 and what has followed – the study’s title comes from a survivor who used to end her talks in schools with “never again,” but told Avidor and Gutman, “My recent talks are that I no longer can say never again.”

Emigres from the former Soviet Union felt especially vulnerable. One of the service providers for members of this group described why this was the case: “Because they came, you know, after Holocaust, after everything they’ve been through in Soviet Union, it was terrible. It was terrible. Antisemitism was terrible. And I know my parents went through all this too: wouldn’t be able to be accepted to a university or a good job because of their last name. So they all have these previous traumas and experiences.”

Some of the seniors had robust coping abilities because they had overcome immense struggles in the past. “We heard things like, ‘we’ve lived through this before and will live through it again,’” Gutman said.

Her hope is that this research will raise awareness of the impacts of Oct. 7 on Jewish older adults, particularly among service providers.

“Ours is one of the few studies, to our knowledge, to explore the effects of antisemitism among older adults, often a less vocal and less salient group in society,” she said. “The Oct. 7 attack, the Israel-Hamas war and perceived antisemitism and anti-Israeli rhetoric, have had profound effects on Jewish older adults living in Canada, and this must be recognized and given appropriate attention.”

Lauren Kramer, an award-winning writer and editor, lives in Richmond.

Community milestones … Gutman, Marks Pulver, Doduck & Simpson

Gloria Gutman, PhD, has been honoured with the King Charles III Coronation Medal, which recognizes individuals who have made a significant contribution to Canada, or an outstanding achievement abroad that brings credit to Canada. She will receive the medal in a ceremony March 21.

A research associate and professor emeritus at Simon Fraser University, Gutman founded the Gerontology Research Centre and the department of gerontology at SFU, serving as director of both units from 1982 to 2005. She is the author/editor of 23 books, the most recent (with Claire Robson and Jen Marchbank) titled Elder Abuse in the LGBTQ2SA+ Community (Springer, 2023).

photo - Dr. Gloria Gutman — Dr. Gloria Gutman (photo from SFU)

During her career, Gutman has held many prominent roles, including president of the Canadian Association on Gerontology, president of the International Association of Gerontology and Geriatrics and president of the International Network for Prevention of Elder Abuse. Currently, she is president of the North American chapter of the International Society for Gerontechnology, vice-president of the International Longevity Centre-Canada and a member of the research management committee of the Canadian Frailty Network. Previously, she served on the World Economic Forum’s Council on the Ageing Society, World Health Organization’s expert advisory panel on aging and health, and the CIHR-Institute of Aging advisory board.

“I am grateful to SFU for having nominated me for this award.

Developing the gerontology department and Gerontology Research Centre, serving on boards, organizing conferences, and advocating for seniors in other ways nationally and internationally, has been a privilege and a pleasure,” said Gutman. “It could not have taken place without the strong support of FASS [the faculty of arts and social sciences] and senior administration.”

In 2012, Gutman was awarded a Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal by the Government of Canada and, in 2016, she was appointed to the Order of Canada, the country’s highest civilian honour.

– Courtesy Simon Fraser University

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photo - Lana Marks Pulver — Lana Marks Pulver (photo from Jewish Federation)

Jewish Federation of Greater Vancouver is proud to congratulate its board chair, Lana Marks Pulver, who was honoured by Jewish Federations of North America with the Kipnis-Wilson/Friedland Award for exemplifying the highest standards of philanthropy and volunteerism. Marks Pulver’s selection for this award is a testament to her exceptional dedication and leadership.

– Courtesy Jewish Federation of Greater Vancouver

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The Louis Brier Jewish Aged Foundation is pleased to announce the appointment of long-time volunteer leaders Marie Doduck and Lee Simpson as co-chairs of the 2025/26 campaign. Please join board directors Harry Lipetz, Rick Cohen, Mel Moss, Bernard Pinsky, David Zacks, Michelle Karby and Abbe Chivers, and staff Ayelet Cohen Weil and Wendy Habif in congratulating and thanking them for their tireless commitment to our Jewish elderly.

– Courtesy Louis Brier Jewish Aged Foundation

Community milestones … Order of Canada, Indspire, SFU Gerontology, JCC Jewish Book Awards

Rabbi Dr. Yosef Wosk speaks at a Vancouver Public Library event in 2017. (photo by Cynthia Ramsay)

The Order of Canada is one of our country’s highest civilian honours. Its companions, officers and members take to heart the motto of the order: “Desiderantes meliorem patriam” (“They desire a better country”).

Created in 1967, the Order of Canada recognizes outstanding achievement, dedication to the community and service to the nation. Appointments are made by the governor general on the recommendation of the Advisory Council for the Order of Canada. This year, among the 114 new appointees, are Vancouver Jewish community members Dr. Carol Herbert and Rabbi Dr. Yosef Wosk. Each recipient will be invited to accept their insignia at a ceremony to be held at a later date.

photo - Dr. Carol Herbert — Dr. Carol Herbert *(photo from schulich.uwo.ca)*

Herbert was appointed a Member of the Order of Canada for her contributions to the fields of clinical and academic medicine, as a family physician, medical educator, researcher and administrator. She and three colleagues were appointed.

“The appointment of Drs. B. Lynn Beattie, Joseph Connors, Carol Herbert and Roger Wong to the Order of Canada is a demonstration of their incredible commitment to the health and well-being of all Canadians,” said Dr. Dermot Kelleher, dean of the University of British Columbia’s faculty of medicine and vice-president, health, at UBC, said in a press release. “We are very proud of each of their contributions, and deeply moved by their passion for improving the lives of patients and families here in B.C., and across the nation.”

Herbert, an adjunct professor in the School of Population and Public Health, “is internationally known for her leadership in primary care research, and for her work in clinical health promotion, patient-physician decision-making, and participatory action research with Indigenous communities, focused on diabetes and on environmental effects on human health,” notes the UBC release. “She was formerly head of the department of family practice, founding head of the division of behavioural medicine and a founder of the UBC Institute of Health Promotion Research.”

This only touches on Herbert’s extensive experience. She also was dean of medicine and dentistry at Western University in London, Ont., from 1999 to 2010, was a practising family physician from 1970 to 2013, and has been involved in medical education since 1971.

Yosef Wosk, PhD, was appointed Officer of the Order of Canada for his far-reaching contributions to his community as a scholar, educator and writer, and for his generous philanthropy. BC Booklook (bcbooklook.com/2020/11/27/41941) cites the governor general: “Yosef Wosk is a Renaissance man of the 21st century. A rabbi, scholar, businessman and art collector, he is a revered educator and community activist who inspired many to become engaged in global issues and local challenges. Former director of interdisciplinary programs in continuing studies at Simon Fraser University, he founded the Philosophers’ Café and the Canadian Academy of Independent Scholars. A poet, explorer and dedicated philanthropist involved with museums, the arts, social services, publishing, nature and heritage conservation, he has endowed hundreds of libraries worldwide.”

Wosk has established more than 400 libraries, including 20 libraries in remote Himalayan villages and 37 in Jewish communities throughout the world. (See jewishindependent.ca/many-milestones-for-wosk-in-2019.) He has supported a range of local building preservation, public garden and other civic enhancement projects. He has helped fund the production of more than 250 books and videos, and has written numerous works, most recently Memories of Jewish Poland: The 1932 Photographs of Nachum Tim Gidal and the forthcoming GIDAL: The Letters of Tim Gidal and Yosef Wosk (Douglas & McIntyre, 2021). He supports several literature, writing, poetry, art and design initiatives, and is founding benefactor of the Dance Centre.

In addition to other honours, Wosk has received the Queen’s Golden and Diamond Jubilee Medals and a Mayor’s Arts Award, as well as the Order of British Columbia.

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As part of its belief in and commitment to supporting emerging architecture practitioners, the Arthur Erickson Foundation and the Yosef Wosk Family Foundation recently announced a $110,000 donation to Indspire – Canada’s national, award-winning Indigenous registered charity – in support of Indigenous youth in Canada. The donation will fund an awards program focused on increasing Indigenous student success by growing the number of Indigenous architects and landscape architects in Canada.

Central to Arthur Erickson’s work as an architect and theorist was his belief in and commitment to education and research. Having served on the faculties of architecture at the University of Oregon and the University of British Columbia, Erickson understood the need of each generation to contribute to the training of the next. One of the ways the foundation honours Erickson’s belief is by working with donors to develop prizes and scholarships intended to reward and assist students studying architecture and landscape architecture.

“The Arthur Erickson Foundation and Yosef Wosk Family Foundation, along with Indspire, are pleased to announce the establishment of an awards program supporting Indigenous education in architecture and landscape architecture,” said Michael Prokopow, vice-president (East) Arthur Erickson Foundation. “The organizations recognize the profound importance of the shared work of decolonization and reconciliation in Canada for the transformation of society. These awards recognize the deep power of Indigenous thinking and wisdom around the making of habitation and space for well-being across generations and the vitally important stewardship of the natural world.”

Mike DeGagné, president and chief executive officer of Indspire, stated, “This new investment is a significant step in supporting First Nations, Inuit and Métis architecture and landscape architecture students to achieve their potential through education and training. They can in turn enrich their communities and create positive change in Canada. We are grateful for the support of the Arthur Erickson Foundation and the Yosef Wosk Family Foundation for investing in Indigenous achievement and education.”

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Simon Fraser University Gerontology Research Centre (GRC) founder Dr. Gloria Gutman and her team – Avantika Vashisht, Taranjot Kaur, Mojgan Karbakhsh, Ryan Churchill and Amir Moztarzadeh – received the Best Paper Award at the International Conference on Gerontechnology, held Nov. 25-27. SFUGero tweeted the news Dec. 1, noting that the paper was a “[f]easibility study of a digital screen-based calming device for managing BPSD [behavioural and psychological symptoms of dementia] during bathing in a long-term care setting.”

A brief biography for Gutman, PhD, appears on the conference website. She is president of the North American chapter of the International Society for Gerontechnology, vice-president of the International Longevity Centre-Canada, past-president of the Canadian Association on Gerontology and the International Association of Gerontology and Geriatrics. She is co-editor (with Andrew Sixsmith) of Technologies for Active Aging (Springer, 2013) and has published widely on seniors housing, long-term care, health promotion, prevention of elder abuse, and seniors and disasters. She is on the advisory of MindfulGarden Digital Health and is the principal investigator on the first feasibility clinical studies for MindfulGarden, which is a digital treatment of hyperactive dementia in long-term care setting. She established the GRC and department of gerontology at SFU and is recipient of many awards and honours, including the Order of Canada.

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The third edition of the Western Canada Jewish Book Awards, presented by the Cherie Smith JCC Jewish Book Festival in Vancouver, took place Dec. 6. Daniella Givon, chair of the awards committee, opened the evening on Zoom and the five honours were awarded by five different presenters.

Winning the Nancy Richler Memorial Prize for Fiction was Rhea Tregebov for Rue des Rosiers, in which a young Canadian woman’s search for her own identity brings her to Paris in 1982, and face-to-face with the terror of an age-old enemy. Tregebov (Vancouver) is the author of fiction, poetry and children’s picture books. She is associate professor emerita in the University of British Columbia creative writing program.

The Pinsky Givon Family Prize for nonfiction went to Naomi K. Lewis for Tiny Lights for Travellers. When her marriage suddenly ends, and a diary documenting her beloved Opa’s escape from Nazi-occupied Netherlands in the summer of 1942 is discovered, Lewis decides to retrace his journey to freedom. Lewis (Calgary) is the author of the novel Cricket in a Fist and the short story collection I Know Who You Remind Me Of.

Ellen Schwartz was awarded the Diamond Foundation Prize for children’s and youth literature for The Princess Dolls, a story about friendship between a Jewish girl and a Japanese girl, set against the backdrop of 1942 Vancouver. Schwartz (Burnaby) is the author of 17 children’s books, including Abby’s Birds and Mr. Belinsky’s Bagels.

The Lohn Foundation Prize for poetry was given to Alex Leslie for Vancouver for Beginners. In this collection, the nostalgia of place is dissected through the mapping of a city, where readers are led past surrealist development proposals, post-apocalyptic postcards and childhood landmarks long gone. Leslie (Vancouver) is the author of two short story collections and the winner of the 2015 Dayne Ogilvie Prize for LGBTQ Emerging Writers.

The Kahn Family Foundation Prize for writing about the Holocaust was given to Olga Campbell for A Whisper Across Time, a personal and moving story of her family’s experience of the Holocaust through prose, art and poetry, creating a multi-dimensional snapshot of losses and intergenerational trauma. Campbell is a visual artist whose media include photography, sculpture, mixed media painting and digital photo collage.

The jury for the 2020 Western Canada Jewish Book Awards comprised Shula Banchik, arts and culture manager of the Calgary JCC; Judy Kornfeld, former librarian at Langara College; Els Kushner, author and librarian; Norman Ravvin, writer, critic and Concordia University professor; and Laurie Ricou, professor emeritus of English at UBC.

After short acceptance speeches and readings from the authors, Dana Camil Hewitt, director of the JCC Jewish Book Festival, concluded the evening thanking the sponsors, the judges, the awards committee and the extended virtual audience, and inviting everyone to purchase and enjoy the books.

Like a Fly in Amber première

Judith Chertkow-Levy, left, and Karen Kelm co-star in the musical Like a Fly in Amber, which will be at Sheraton Vancouver Wall Centre Hotel Oct. 19. (photo by Victor Dezso Foto)

The Canadian Association on Gerontology Annual Scientific and Educational Meeting (ASEM) is the highlight of the year for those of us who work, conduct research or have an interest in the field of aging,” said Dr. Gloria Gutman, event co-chair. And, as far as she is aware, “this is the first time in the 47 years that the Canadian Association on Gerontology has been organizing ASEMs that it has included a social or cultural event quite like Like a Fly in Amber. When the organizing committee became aware of it, they got excited. It’s just so topical, given population aging; professional, funny and poignant.

“In today’s world,” she added, “many of us, especially women, can expect to be caregivers of frail elderly parents and/or, if we married partners older than ourselves, of a spouse whose physical and/or mental capabilities may become compromised. It’s the new norm.”

Like a Fly in Amber is a two-person musical about aging written by Karen Kelm, and co-starring Kelm and Judith Chertkow-Levy. It sees its Vancouver première at the CAG meeting on Oct. 19. Both the show and the conference are open to the public.

Among other things, Gutman is past president of CAG and professor and director emerita of the department of gerontology and Gerontology Research Centre at Simon Fraser University.

The ASEM, she said, is “where we learn about and present new ideas on how to improve the quality of life of our elderly population. While other organizations may be concerned with a particular age-related disease, CAG is a multidisciplinary organization that is concerned with the health and well-being of the whole person in the context in which they are living.”

Since CAG is a national organization, said Gutman, “the ASEM is held in different parts of the country as a way to build capacity as well as take advantage of what the different venues have to offer in the way of natural beauty, unique scientific and educational offerings, and culture.”

The conference program includes national and international keynote speakers, she said, noting that, this year, there are two from the United Kingdom, one from the United States and one from Vancouver. Preconference events, she explained, allow for more detailed study of particular topics, such as Reducing Seniors’ Social Isolation Through Collective Impact, which is funded in part by the Government of Canada’s New Horizons for Seniors Program. More than 600 abstracts “have been accepted for presentation within the eight streams of the scientific program which correspond to CAG’s professional membership: behavioural sciences; biological sciences; clinical practice; health sciences; humanities; policy and programs; social sciences; teaching and learning in gerontology.”

Like a Fly in Amber was part of the 2016 Toronto Fringe Festival. “The play revolves around Iris’s writing of a eulogy for her mother while sitting in the attic of the house in which she grew up,” wrote Dr. Carol Herbert, former dean of the school of medicine and dentistry at Western University who now lives in Vancouver, in a review of that production for the Jewish Independent. “She struggles to evoke memories of the person her mother was and to put her personhood into words. The resulting tribute is beautiful.” (See jewishindependent.ca/moving-musical.)

According to the synopsis, Iris returns to the family home the night before her mother’s funeral and “discovers that fiercely independent Grace may have hastened her own demise – accidentally, through stubborn, irrational decisions. Iris reviews the final chapter of their relationship, to make sense of Grace’s kooky self-sufficiency, and find closure.”

Kelm plays Iris, while Chertkow-Levy plays Grace. The two performers met doing Fiddler on the Roof at Theatre Under the Stars in 1975.

photo - Karen Kelm — Karen Kelm *(photo by Victor Dezso Foto)*

“Over 40 years later,” Kelm told the Independent, “we are both enjoying being back onstage together – although I don’t think either of us could have imagined back when she portrayed Tzeitel and I was in the ensemble that she would play my mother one day!”

The two have been close friends since Fiddler. “She would join my family for Jewish holidays and Shabbat dinners and I would sing with her on Christmas Eve at her family gathering,” said Chertkow-Levy. “Although we moved to Toronto and shared an apartment and both pursued music careers, we did not have the opportunity to perform together until 2016. Karen is a gifted songwriter and, when she proposed the idea of doing this show in Toronto, I was thrilled to participate even though I was in San Diego and she was in Victoria.”

In preparation for the 2016 Fringe shows, Chertkow-Levy – who is one of Herbert and Gutman’s sisters – came to Vancouver around Passover for a few days of rehearsal. “Karen joined us for seder at my sister Carol’s home and, at the urging of my sisters, we sang a few bars of one of the songs. The theme of aging resonated with my sister Gloria professionally and with all of us emotionally and she had the idea of doing it sometime at a future convention. The seed of that idea grew and, as this CAG convention was being planned, Gloria felt the show was a good fit.”

photo - Judith Chertkow-Levy — Judith Chertkow-Levy *(photo by Victor Dezso Foto)*

While Kelm and Chertkow-Levy haven’t publicly performed the show since its debut in Toronto, they have continued to work with the material and improve it, said Kelm. “For example, the songs are mostly the same but, in the previous production, we performed to recorded tracks. In this production, we will perform with a live pianist.

“The script for the Fringe production emerged from swapping anecdotes with friends about their mothers,” she explained. “I knew Judy and Gloria’s mother (she ladled a lot of chicken soup down my throat over the years) and we laughed till we cried, remembering some of her best moments and priceless sayings. Judy also knows my mother, who, by the way, tells me it’s OK to poke a bit of fun at seniors because ‘we old folks are funny.’ Whew – she may come to the show this time. But, essentially, the first version of the show aimed to present a series of vignettes with songs attached.

“Of course, some of my mother’s idiosyncrasies show up in the script, but my experience performing for seniors in independent living facilities has taught me that many of the things we thought were unique to our moms are absolutely universal. So, after our first production, I took to heart some of the insightful observations of a couple of reviewers and began to write a more compelling script. The result is tighter, clearer dialogue and stronger dramatic structure surrounding the songs, now beautifully supported by a new score.

“I have always had a clear picture of Grace (the mother) because she is such a wonderful composite character, representing many mother figures whom I loved,” said Kelm. “Iris (the daughter) gave me more trouble, both as a writer and a performer, because, at first, I didn’t want to get too autobiographical. In this version of the script, Iris much more closely represents me than Grace does my mother.”

“As Grace,” said Chertkow-Levy, “I find myself drawing on the memories of wonderful mothers in my life who are no longer with us: my mother and grandmother and Karen’s wonderful Grandma Matthews and Aunt Peggy. And, I picture Karen’s mother and my mother-in-law who are modern ‘little old ladies’ who have embraced technology and surf the Net and are only old by virtue of their age in years. All are and were strong, resilient women who loved life and took aging with a grain of salt – accepted it but didn’t give in to it. I feel honoured to be able to draw on them as inspiration and keep them with me in memory. I hope that my portrayal lives up to that memory.”

Tickets for Like a Fly in Amber can be purchased from cag2018.eventbrite.ca. The price is $40 for the show only and $65 for the show plus flatbread and a beverage. It plays Oct. 19, 7 p.m., in the Grand Ballroom at Sheraton Vancouver Wall Centre Hotel, 1088 Burrard St. For details about the CAG meeting, visit cag2018.ca. There are one-day as well as student and senior reduced registration fees available.